Search

The article presents comments on papers on national renewal presented by University of the Philippines professor Zeus Salazar and National Secretariat for Social Action research director John J. Carroll as part of the Philippine Sociological Society's "Social Issues '72" public lecture series. The author holds that there are two competing strategies for the achievement of economic progress and modernity. One strategy sees national development as a process of departure from the traditional concerns of the village world into the modem and rational world of the elite. The policies of its adherents focus on monetary and fiscal stability, on the establishment of norms of legality and rationality in public administration and, most important, on creating a proper climate for entrepreneurship. There is nothing wrong with stability and rationality, per se The problem is that these policies are given priority over, and often at the expense of, those that would solve more basic problems in the country's economic and social structure. Because this strategy conceives of progress as movement from tradition to modernity, it accepts the division between the masses and the elite and sees it primarily in cultural and intellectual terms.

Copyright of Dokuz Eylul University Journal of Graduate School of Social Sciences is the property of Dokuz Eylul University Graduate School of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a context where many African populations are excluded from the traditional banking system, financial inclusion appears to be a determining factor in enabling agents in need of financing, notably producers and consumers, to have easy access to financial services in order to contribute to the multiple efforts of economic and social progress of nations. However, to date, the literature remains silent on the optimal level of financial inclusion that can boost growth. Consequently, this paper aims to verify whether there is a non-linear relationship between economic growth and financial inclusion in the WAEMU zone. Econometric applications based on the PCSE (panel-corrected standard error) model on a panel of eight countries for the period 2014–2018 reveal a U-shaped relationship between the extended banking rate and economic growth. Economic growth shows two different behaviours depending on whether one is on the side of one or the other of the regimes inherent to the inflection point. In view of these results, we suggest that the public authorities: i) intensify campaigns to open accounts in local languages, ii) promote the development of online sales applications for goods and services, iii) pursue the dematerialisation of financial operations within public administrations. Finally, this paper paves the way for future research on the microeconomic component and a similar treatment of the subject, but taking into account the occurrence of the Covid pandemic19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce and study in this paper the policy design improvement regarding the public procurement process for public management innovation. Public procurement is obtained transparently and efficiently at the exact cost of goods, constructions, services, among others. In addition, it has decreased the national budget and supported the national economic development. Most of the major contributions of public procurement included support for small businesses, jobs, and balanced regional development. Nevertheless, a lot of issues have become apparent during the public procurement process, thus requiring preventive measures. The aim of this study is to demonstrate an enhanced public procurement process and develop efficient policies in the future. For this reason, we investigated the issues regarding South Korea's public procurement process, and concentrated on policy improvement. It is our intention to provide a highly efficient global public procurement process that can be used as an academic paper that will help in developing South Korea's public procurement process and policy direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption poses a significant challenge to economic development and governance worldwide, with its detrimental effects permeating various levels of society. In the context of Greece, where corruption has been a longstanding issue, the role of internal audit mechanisms within local government organizations (LGOs) emerges as paramount. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the internal control landscape within LGO revenue departments, focusing on factors influencing its effectiveness and proposing strategies for improvement. Drawing upon survey data and regression analyses, this study highlights the crucial role of robust internal control mechanisms in combating corruption and fostering economic development. The findings underscore the importance of competent personnel, legislative compliance, interdepartmental collaboration, and technology utilization in enhancing internal control practices. Despite existing legislation, gaps in internal control implementation persist, including understaffing, inadequate procedures, and limited access to information. This study emphasizes the transformative potential of effective internal audit measures in mitigating corruption at the local level, thereby contributing to broader economic growth and societal well-being. Recommendations for strengthening the internal control structures within LGOs include the formal establishment of internal audit functions, adherence to professional standards, and the promotion of information system utilization. By addressing the corruption and inefficiencies within LGOs, this research underscores the pivotal role of institutional effectiveness in promoting transparency, accountability, and sustainable economic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Economic Research & Business Administration is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the extent to which the East African Community (EAC) countries have developed economically over time and whether income inequality decreases with economic growth. The relationship between trade and GDP per capita amongst EAC member countries is evaluated using the World Bank's meta-data of development indicators and the EAC Secretariat's data spanning from 2000--2019. Convergence in GDP per capita and inequality are tested using Coefficient of variation (CV) and weighted beta. The results show that agriculture, manufacturing, trade and repair, construction, and transport and storage constituted the top five GDP value adding activities, contributing about 38 percent to total annual GDP. The EAC GDP per capita were diverging in the long run but converging in short to medium terms, implying increase and decrease in the regional income inequality respectively. Agriculture, electricity and gas, transport and storage, real estate activities, public administration, and education were income inequality-increasing sectors. Together with finance and insurance, these sectors were also positively associated with GDP per capita. The exports of EAC member countries were found to be highly concentrated in few sectors and destination markets, implying limited diversification of products and markets. In their quest to diversify, these countries should choose the right mixes of export goods and services keeping in view of the prevailing market factors in importing countries, such as, changing taste and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the implementation of the rule by the Advisory Council on Public Records under the provisions of the Public Records Act of 1967 in Great Britain. Most contemporary historians saw the First World War as a historical watershed from which time onwards the activity and potential role of governments in influencing British economic and social development were much enhanced. As a result, particular areas of historical research, such as diplomatic history and historical studies of social and economic policy, were given enormous stimulus. For all historians access to records is essential. New records are almost always welcome and any restriction on access to information is generally deplored or regretted. In the initial euphoria at the release of so much new material comparatively little attention was paid to the status of the public records as research evidence. In 1970, however, doyen of British interwar historians, the late G. L. Mowat, referred to a part of the new material with characteristic shrewdness.

The paper summarizes and provides and overview on the economic and social processes influencing and supporting the successful management of settlements, focusing on Hungary. The role of leadership and settlement management is inevitable in the everyday operation as well as in the definition and realization of development concepts and strategies. The basis of stable operation and development is the financial independency and stability, thus we need to call the attention on the importance of economic development functions of settlements as well as on the important role of mayors and leaders in the economic and spatial development. The approaches, the ideas as well as the way how the leaders think are all determining factors in development. Nowadays, settlement development and regional economic development raise such key issues that are also the main research questions in our paper, like „What does a good municipality/a good settlement look like? How can 'good' be described?" What are the main characteristics of a suitable leader in the case of settlements? It is known that there are no targeted trainings, courses for mayors/heads of municipalities to prepare them to be good leaders, there are no nationally or internationally acknowledged skills, competences that could be applied to select the most suitable leaders for the positions. Therefore, we believe that we must call the attention to this shortage and motivate the experts in public administration, the researchers and scientists, as well as trainers and coaches to cooperate and work on the solution. In this paper, through the dimension of leadership/management, we intend to discover the characteristics of successful community leaders and to focus on the importance of the activities of 'local heroes', who prove to have strong commitment to the development of settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of regional policy in strengthening the EU's research and innovation policy paradigm, with a particular focus on smart specializations. These specializations play a major role in stimulating R&I at the regional level in less-developed regions of the EU. Smart specialization is the EU's new concept for the regions; it assumes improvement in both innovation and competitiveness, based on endogenic potential; in particular, in already existing branches of the economy. Smart specializations should, by definition, concentrate economic resources on chosen priorities; one of these priorities is the growth of the blue economy. Smart specializations need to be clearly defined, only then can they contribute to economic growth when combined with proper management of public financial means. The objective of this paper is to introduce and characterize the assumptions for smart specializations and to assess the progress of their implementation and the necessary conditions required in Polish regions; particularly when referring to sectors of the blue economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of economic growth, England has historically retained a level of centralized control despite policy attempts to decentralize. Consequently, attempts to create a subnational tier have struggled to establish a durable alternative. Reporting on the episode of localism, which began in 2010 and has involved the abolition of regional development agencies (RDAs) in favour of 38 voluntary local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) alongside the construction of a growing number of combined authorities, the research investigates a complex place-based economic landscape whereby the provision of guidance and sharing of practice in England remains limited. This paper draws on the existing literature to propose a conceptual model of place-based partnership that formed a scaffold for an empirical study involving 10 LEPs in the Midlands. A soft systems methodology was adopted to understand the factors that help and hinder these place-based partnerships. The paper advances the argument that the persistence of centralism limits the LEPs' capacity to fill the missing space and observes a strong influence of central government and reliance on local government. Beyond the LEPs, given the global trend of decentralization, further research into the interplay between the factors in the conceptual model is encouraged to support the development of place-based partnerships as they work towards securing collaborative advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Digitalization and new technologies are now firmly on the agendas of governments worldwide. New technological trends have not only become catalysts for economic development, but are also reshaping how the public sector works and implements its policies. Amid technological transformations, the countries of Central Asia are searching for new ways to adapt to these changes. This paper aims to assess these attempts by exploring the digitalization policies of the five Central Asian countries. By using qualitative methods and expert interviews, the article identifies key limitations and potential areas of development for the Central Asian states regarding digitalization and artificial intelligence. By providing valuable insights, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the digitalization challenges faced by developing countries. Through the analysis of local expert opinions, the article seeks to contribute valuable insights to the distinct approaches adopted by these countries, thus enriching the understanding of the region’s trajectory in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by growing concerns about the risks and instability of China’s financial system, this article reviews several commonly perceived financial risks and discusses their roots in China’s politico- economic institutions. We emphasize the need to evaluate these risks within China’s unique economic and financial systems, in which the state and non-state sectors coexist and the financial system serves as a key tool of the government to fund its economic policies. Overall, we argue that: (1) financial crisis is unlikely to happen in the near future, and (2) the ultimate risk lies with China’s economic growth, as a vicious circle of distortions in the financial system lowers the efficiency of capital allocation and economic growth and will eventually exacerbate financial risks in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence that supports the view that the quality of institutions is an important determinant of long-term growth in European countries. It shows that an initial high government debt level coupled with institutional quality below the EU average tends to be associated with particularly poor longterm real growth performance. Interestingly, the detrimental effect of high debt levels on long-term growth seems cushioned by the presence of very sound institutions. The paper offers some evidence that sound institutions may be particularly important for long-term growth in countries in which the exchange rate tool is no longer available and less so in countries with flexible exchange rate regimes. The empirical findings on the importance of institutions are robust to various measures of output growth, different measures of institutional indicators, different sample sizes, different country groupings and to the inclusions of additional control variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Catalana de Dret Públic is the property of Revista Catalana de Dret Public and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Renewable energy consumption has gained growing importance in the world energy consumption portfolio over recent years. One of the reasons is the increasingly negative development of climate change. The research carried out in this paper aims to discern whether the examined economic indicator (GDP per capita) and the environmental indicator (CO2 emissions per capita) affect the renewable energy consumption in the region of the Visegrad Group (V4 - Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovak Republic) countries, and to draw implications for public administration in the given issue. The fixed effects panel regression model was used to verify the mentioned relationships between variables from 1990-2020. The results show that the level of the share of renewable energy consumption on the total energy consumption in the region of the V4 countries can be affected by the GDP per capita (positive relationship validated) and the CO2 emissions per capita (negative relationship validated). These results are mostly in line with the findings of other researchers conducted on different samples of countries, although some differences can be noted, especially regarding the direction of the relationship. The implications of the research results are presented on three levels: practical implications for the business sector, emphasis placed on political implications for public administration, and theoretical implications that lay the foundation for further research. The main limitation of the research results comes from the sample used in V4 countries and, thus, from the limited possibilities of generalizing the results. The direction of further research in the addressed issue will include a larger number of countries in the research and the use of various quantitative and qualitative research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores public value and public management through the lens of economic factors -- an unusual stance since public management research mostly features the economy as background rather than foreground. Responding to calls for deeper investigations into public value, it argues that public value is not confined to the formal public sector and should also include use-values created and distributed by households, the third-sector and informal associations. Arguing that economic context is paid insufficient attention in public management research, the paper shows how alternative models are possible based on social reproduction, Regulation Theory, and Modern Monetary Theory as an alternative to traditional Keynesianism -- favouring a balanced economy above balanced budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional pillars of public administration have included the guiding values of efficiency and economy. Increasingly, scholars have engaged in social equity as the third pillar of public administration (Frederickson, 2010). Such an analysis engages questions around "who" benefits from economic and efficiency realizations in the course of public administration practice. Going a step further, public administration in the context of the 21st century necessitates drawing the net further to consider other values in the course of development decisions, and in particular in terms of the considerations around the increasing focus on environmental impacts. This paper considers how environmental equity can be understood in the context of difficult urban development decisions, particularly in the consideration of the permitting or siting of noxious land uses. Towards that end, this paper examines two leading and distinctly different frames around environmental equity: sustainability and environmental justice. In practice, contradictions between sustainability and environmental justice are often predicated on differing equity considerations within the environmental movement. Rather than focusing on trade-offs between environmental and economic growth values, a more rigorous discussion of equity may bolster the contemporary environmental movement through a fusion of inter- and intra-generational equity of environmental considerations within the urban development process. Through a structured examination of what equity means to environmental decision-making broadly and the specific construction of such movements' endemic justice frames, this paper seeks to identify common theoretical ground within the environmental movement by specifically building on justice theory conceptualized by such scholars as Amartya Sen (1999), John Rawls (1971), and others that build on their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global economic development, the issue of convergence of actions at local communities, regional structures and national entities, targeting a sustainable development, is becoming crucial. This article highlights the contribution of citizens and local authorities to finding new and creative ways to cope with the pressures they face, given the climate of crisis in recent years. The paper also highlights the importance of implementing quality management systems in the activity of central and local public administration. Local communities need to identify new tools and strategies like quality management ones in order to determine collaboration between citizens, institutions and representatives of different sectors of activity, in order to plan the future of the community. All these elements change both the nature of the problems at the local level and the way in which they are fixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-government development is considered one of the crucial factors for achieving an advanced stage of development in Albania. The number of e-government services introduced to the user in Albania is increasing, although its development and ICT development in general is not in the same level as other countries of the region, due to a lot of problems which Albania faces regarding it. This paper firstly presents a review of e-government for developing countries. The paper then presents the actual situation of ICT development in Albania, with a focus on e-government development stages and services. The paper then proposes an analytical framework for e-government development problems within the context of developing countries, such as Albania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessing and absorbing European funds for agriculture represents the greatest challenge for Romanian public administration, business environment and non-governmental institutions. Making use of European funds is an opportunity to boost the economic growth of Romania, since it would mean an annual capital input equal with up to 5% of the gross domestic product. The paper presents details regarding disbursement of grants for Romanian agriculture and related sectors, for the main measures of the National Plan for Rural Development , since the beginning of plan implementation until now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official corruption remain one of the major challenges of Nigeria and has become deep-rooted in her public sector administration leading to severe consequences to the country's economic and socio-political development. Public financial probity and accountability are promoted partly through the conduct of regular audits by the office of the Auditor- General, recognized as the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of any country. The Auditor General Office is expected to serve as a corner stone for good public sector governance through the provision of unbiased objective assessments of whether public resources are responsibly and effectively managed to achieve intended results. How effective has the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation of Nigeria been able to discharge her responsibilities, particular with respect to the curtailment of corruption in government and what possible challenges could be militating against this Nigerian Supreme Audit Institution and in what ways and means could these challenges be overcome are the preoccupations of this paper? Through in-depth literature review and analysis of secondary data this paper traces the principal challenges of Nigeria's Auditor-General Office to include the issues of independence, capacity building, political will of the Executive and the legislature to implement the Auditor-General's report. The paper finds the effectiveness of the Auditor General's Office and the curtailment of official corruption to lie squarely with the sincere and effective efforts towards the resolution of these challenges by the Government of Nigeria [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers aims at adding to the current of assessing the level of corruption, public administration reform and their impact upon the economic development a in-depth study that emphasizes once again the strong link between corruption and public administration as a provider of public service (Rose-Ackerman, 1999; Mauro 1998). Moreover, the issue that the paper is underlying refers to the lack of more developed and accurate instruments and methodologies that measure the corruption level in different fields of activity, and, as a consequence, the need to firstly estimate the intensity of the phenomenon upon the clients of the public administration. In order to avoid general perceptions, the authors decided to limit the research on a sample comprising only respondents that are both clients and providers of a public service (referred to as white-collar clients), hence assuming they have a more accurate understanding of the phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to formally examine the effect of placing constraints, such as the line-item veto or a balanced budget amendment, on legislative behavior. There are two basic findings that emerge from the analysis. First, constraints on one type of instrument, such as spending, will in general result in more widespread use of other kinds of instruments, such as regulation. Second, it is naive to conclude that constraints on legislative behavior will promote economic efficiency and/or reduce the growth of government. The primary contribution of the paper is to suggest how changes in the political environment can affect instrument choice, economic welfare, and the size of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In any emerging nation, efficient infrastructure holds the key to economic and social development. In the case of Indonesia, however, decades of under-investment and poor asset management have left the country with a significant infrastructure deficit. This paper explores the key problems facing infrastructure development in Indonesia since the Yudhoyono era. The current administration aims to tackle this challenge and improve the competitiveness of the Indonesian economy. Compared to the previous administration, the incumbent government has taken a more pragmatic approach to achieve its goals. One major policy has been to shift budget allocations away from fuel subsidies and towards infrastructure development. This has also been accompanied by continued efforts to reform regulatory and institutional frameworks. Despite these measures, the overall progress of Jokowi's infrastructure development has not been as smooth as expected. Limited resources and capacity mean that the administration needs to re-evaluate the number of national strategic initiatives and be more selective in prioritizing infrastructure projects. Moreover, the national strategic projects must be linked to larger development plans with longer time-frame, such as the National Spatial Plan and sectoral master plans in order to achieve integrated regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method for identifying regional poles and the turnpikes of growth based on the following foundations: four colour theorem, Wikinomics business model in the form of platforms for participation, evaluation of the functionality of websites run by public administration municipal offices, and dual graph reduction. The province of Warmia and Mazury, which is the subject of the study, is one of the poorest provinces in Poland in terms of economic development. It is therefore natural that the growth of this region requires external enterprise sources. This role can be best performed primarily by websites run by municipal offices, which initiate business activity in their corresponding areas, and consequently, can be regarded as Wikinomics platforms of participation. Using the k-means clustering method, these websites were divided into four separate quality classes. These classes were assigned four various colours, which were subsequently used for preparing the map of the province. Each municipality was marked with a colour corresponding to the quality class of the website run by the state administration unit operating in a given area. The system of colours resulting from the four colour theorem and a corresponding dual graph serve as a frame of reference with regard to each empirical colour distribution and to another, related, dual graph. Thus, the four colour theorem describes the largest diversity of regional growth poles. The measure of the economic growth of the region is a degree of reduction of the dual graph corresponding to the empirical colour distribution, which identifies actual growth poles and determines the turnpikes of growth. The ultimate development objective, although not always achievable, is a reduction of the dual graph to a single vertex, when all municipal offices in the province have websites of the highest quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inhuman socioeconomic repercussions of corruption and bad governance inherent in successive male-dominated governments have generated agitation for increased women’s participation in governance. Primarily, this agitation is based on the premise that women are less inclined to corruption, which is a major impediment to good governance. Given the notoriety of these two impediments to development, this study aims to investigate the relationship between women’s participation in governance, corruption, and quality of governance in sub-Saharan Africa from 1996 to 2021. This study analyzed annual panel data of four sub-Saharan African countries using the autoregressive distributed lag model and the Granger causality test. Governance quality was proxied by government effectiveness, while women’s participation in governance and corruption were proxied by the number of women in government positions and control of corruption, respectively. Economic development and institutional quality were used as control variables. The findings revealed negative main and interaction effects of women’s participation in governance and corruption on governance quality, unidirectional causality from corruption to women’s participation in governance and from governance quality to women’s participation in governance, and bidirectional causality between corruption and governance quality. Quantitative increases in women’s participation in governance and corruption exacerbates governance quality. Women’s ability to participate in governance is determined by the prevalence of corruption in previous years. Anticorruption campaigns that focused on women’s participation in governance often result in reductions in corruption insufficient for improvement of governance quality. Corruption and bad governance are mutually reinforcing. Governance quality determines women’s participation in governance. To minimize corruption and bad governance, sub-Saharan African countries should shift their focus away from merely increasing the number of women in government positions to building strong institutions capable of creating a meritocratic political and socioeconomic environment in which selfless women and men have equal chances of being elected or appointed to public offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the quality of government (QoG) and how it can be empirically measured? After the early years when research on governance has largely been dominated by economic studies analysing the relationship between economic growth and institutions, in recent years this subject has begun to attract the attention of many other scholars interested in studying the "input-side" of democracy. This paper will provide an original definition of QoG focused on the role of the executive power in the overall quality of democracy to be used in a small-N research design using qualitative data. This approach will be used to assess the QoG in Slovakia, comparing the results with the Worldwide Governance Indicators of the World Bank. The results show that this qualitative approach to the quality of government is more suitable to highlight change in a short-time period, and stress the importance to use both approaches to have a more general picture of the QoG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on theoretical debate and empirical evidence, both raised in the context of State Reform and Modernization of Public Management processes, this paper proposes a model of synthesis and analysis that allows characterizing such processes. Using a case study methodology, this research demonstrates the usefulness of such a model to the Chilean case, during the 1990-2006 period. There is evidence of particular features of these processes of reform and modernization in the Chilean experience. Said conclusion is based on data collected through the application and analysis of 37 interviews to key actors involved in those processes as well as the collection and analysis of official documents. This article identifies, describes and explains the variables that define the Policy of Modernization of Public Management in the Chilean experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - It is now widely recognized that human development (HD) and economic growth (EG) are intertwined in two-way feedback processes either leading to an upward spiral of development or a poverty trap. This concept is used to overcome one of the limitations of a previous study by Qureshi which assumes exogenous gross domestic product (GDP). With endogenous GDP formulation, the impact of public expenditure on HD and EG in Pakistan is examined. Design/methodology/approach - System dynamics approach is used to model, identify and help manage the development path of HD and EG in Pakistan given alternative policies for public expenditure on HD and EG. For this purpose the model endogenously determines path of population cohorts, and education, health and economic indicators. Findings - The simulation results suggest that the current level of public expenditure on HD is extremely low and any further decrease will have irreversible negative impact on HD and economic indicators, even if the resources so saved are effectively invested in EG. Further, higher public expenditure on EG may neither result into better HD indicators nor economic indicators. On the contrary, higher public expenditure on HD not only improves HD indicators but also supplements EG. The results of this study conform to the results of earlier research and challenge the very basis of fiscal policy in Pakistan which has continually ignored HD over decades. Research limitations/implications - The model boundary excludes possible causal links of public expenditure, HD and income distribution. Identification and inclusion of these causalities may improve understanding of perpetuating asymmetric income distribution in Pakistan its role in HD and EG trade-off. Practical implications - This paper suggests reorientation of fiscal policy in Pakistan and to anchor it to HD by allocating more public funds. Originality/value - The unique characteristic of this model is explicit modelling of population cohorts in a two-way feedback relationship with economic development considering the delays and non-linearities involved in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the project "Internal Conflicts and State-Building Challenges in Asia." The project is a part of the larger East-West Center project on state building and governance in Asia. The project began in July 2005 and investigates the causes and consequences of internal conflicts in Burma, Thailand, Nepal, northeast India, and Sri Lanka. The project attempts to explore the solutions and strategies for their peaceful management and eventual settlement. It examines how the conflicts have affected the vitality of the state. A study group has been organized for each of the five conflicts investigating in the study. The project will publish twenty to twenty-five policy papers providing a detailed examination of particular aspects of each conflict.

Starting from the idea that the public-private partnership will become in the near future one of the main ways to finance major infrastructure works in Romania, nationally - regionally - locally, this article aims is to verify this hypothesis by analyzing the importance of the concept of publicprivate partnership at the international and national level. The analysis performed in this article take into consideration the degree to which it integrates the needs of the community and the interest of the private entities for partnership with public administration. In implementing their economic development plans, the governments of the countries face many challenges starting from the construction of the architecture of those infrastructure investments, continuing with their operationalization and last but not least regarding the securing of financing for the completion and for the project operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The important role of local authorities in regional and local development raise the necessity of local financial autonomy, necessary for local governments to develop services needed in their area of competence and to cooperate to other local communities from neighborhood to cover local or regional needs. The paper analyze, for the consolidated local budgets of the counties from Centru region of development, the evolution of some budgetary indicators to evidence the differences into the possibility of local authorities from the region to promote development and suggest some ways of increasing that involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governance is a complex phenomenon, with important economic, social and political effects, that reflects the manner of taking and implementing important decisions in society and the methods of cooperation and relations between stakeholders. In this paper we firstly aimed to briefly present the evolution of the concept of governance in correlation with changes occurred in the manifestation of this phenomenon. Knowing the level and dynamics of governance through statistical indicators enables making decisions towards increasing the quality of governance and analysing the relationship between socio-economic performances and the manner of making and implementing decisions in society. This paper aims to highlight the main indicators used in measuring the quality of governance and conduct an analysis of the level and dynamics of this phenomenon in the case of 28 EU countries. The analysis is based on two groups of indicators, WGI (World Governance Indicators) and Eurostat indicators. The statistical data analysed for the period 2008-2015 reflect in both cases (WGI and Eurostat) a tendency of decreasing of the quality of governance in the EU 28 (average level) but also significant differences by country or group of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU provides financial support to promote economic development, but the results of development policies are affected by different of actors, among which public administration is particularly important. The goal of this paper is to investigate both the role of local authorities in the management of European structural funds intended for entrepreneurial development, and the role of other users of these funds. Applying the GLS method on a sample composed by the 116 Italian provincial capitals and considering the period 2014-2017 (n. 464 observations), our findings show that local governments produced higher positive impact, than other actors, in managing EU structural funds for local entrepreneurial development. Finally, we suggest policy making and managerial implications arising from the research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes an operational method that regional government agencies can use to enable locally-based firms to compete effectively in their industries. This method, which emerged in southern Spain after the transition to democracy, embodies many precepts found in the contemporary public management literature. The paper begins the task of cumulating the clinical knowledge needed to translate action plan precepts into specific managerial decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explaining cross-country differences in growth rates requires not only an understanding of the link between growth and public policies, but also an understanding of why countries choose different public policies. This paper shows that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial systems, distorted foreign exchange markets, high government deficits, and insufficient infrastructure. Africa's high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the processes and dimensions of development was a permanent concern for both theorists and practitioners. Analysis of economic models and theories envisaged their limits to explain the whole complexity of the development process, analyzed both at local and regional levels. Thus an interdisciplinary approach was necessary, specific for administrative science; in order to better understand the development process, the mechanisms, the dimensions and patterns that have influenced the development process both from the economical and administrative points of view. This paper aims to develop an overview of the main concepts that may be related to the development process, highlighting their interdependence, who in the authors' opinion leads to the concept of integrated homogeneous development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the author’s scientific views on the current state of the world economy, its either Western or Eastern self-determination in the process of economic history. The relevance of the research is determined by the transformation of relations between states, their strategic management and the development or stagnation of the business environment. The current situation poses the question of a civilizational choice for many countries: to join the BRICS, to declare their power in the G7, to determine their own independence or to be an observer. The author, through the genesis of the “Eastern” economy, the “Russian Idea” and the development of the Chinese and Middle Eastern economies, makes conclusions on the further path of the Russian economy. Definitely, due to the limited volume of the material, the author considers the branches that refer to his scientific research interests and concepts. The history of managerial and economic thought, as well as the genesis of public administration, allows to determine the prerequisites for a modern economy shaping. The drivers of the economy, to which the author refers China and the Persian Gulf countries, are transforming the business environment today. China is striving for a multi-polarity of the world, and the Arab Emirates are trying to ensure the future of generations through petrodollars, investing in trending industries and thereby forming a positive image of their actions, including mega-events. For Russia, on the one hand, new opportunities are opening for the entrepreneurial environment development, its own entrepreneurial culture shaping, new areas of entrepreneurial activity, import substitution. On the other hand, in modern conditions it is impossible to do without programs and projects to support the business environment, and, at the same time, strengthen control over the production and sale of goods and services. The article is rather conceptual, since it represents the author’s view of the current situation. Taking into consideration that the planning horizon today is limited to a mega-short-term period, the relevance of many scientific publications, in particular, J. Byrnes, [1], A. N. Shokhin [2], I. V. Guskova [3], A. L. Kudrin [4], M. Mazzucatto [5], may change with regular frequency.